Overview of Child Neglect and Abuse

Child neglect is often seen as an issue that is not as big as it should be today because it is not always physical. Child neglect may not always be able to be seen by the human eye which is why it happens to not always be reported unless the child looks gravely ill. Children who experience child neglect more often happen to be children who are unable to speak for themselves such as toddlers or babies under the age of one.

“More important, 23.1per 1,000 babies under the age of 1 year suffer from child maltreatment higher than the odds of the children who die in car crashes. More than half the perpetrators are women where 48.8% are white, 20% are African American and 19% are Hispanic.” (Psychology Today 2016) These results tell us that children who are babies are more likely to be victims of child neglect than a child that is old enough to talk. Effect of Neglect on the Brain In numerous instances of neglect, there has been a relationship with the mind neglecting to develop properly.

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This causes debilitated physical, mental, and emotional improvement.

A child's mind figures out how to adjust to a not as much as positive condition and this happens to trick the procedure of ordinary improvement. The brains of neglected child are not integrated and this causes challenges in emotional, social, and intellectual advancement. The delicate period, amid the initial two years of life, is a basic time in which mind movement faces extreme psychosocial hardship whenever looked with disregard and is probably not going to be recuperated.

Children who have encountered neglect may have essentially littler brains than the standard. By a child being abused so young it can damage their whole life because this is the age where it is most critical than anything else in their lives. It also leads us to believe that parents who neglect their children happen to be single mothers in poverty. Studies believe that mothers need more help and that women who neglect their children happen to be young and often are not an educated as most mothers. It has been said now that adverse childhood experiences are now shown to directly impact a child’s lifespan and decrease their lives by 20 years if exposed to something traumatizing enough.

When it comes to this social issue is has been occurring for years but it has become worst and have impacted more children now than it has ever impacted them before. Child neglect was first discovered in the early 1870’s because of an orphan who was being abused in her foster home. At the time, there was not a program for children who were abused or neglected and they had to fall under the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The outrage of the abuse of the abuse to the child caused for citizens to form the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1974, they made a federal law, for The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which helped them to be able to provide protective services to the victims of the abuse. (Child Abuse Background 2018). Although people like to believe that it only happens in a child’s house home by their parents it can also take place by people who are supposed to be the child’s caregiver. Child neglect happens anywhere which some people are not aware of. Each year more than 3 million reports of child abuse and child neglect are made which involves 6 million children. Each day 4 to 5 children are killed due to the fact of child neglect and child abuse. Children who has parents who use alcohol and drugs are three times more likely to be abused and four times to be more neglected than any other child. (Child Abuse Background 2018)

When it comes to who has the power to change this issue I can only think of one major sources that can change the way child neglect is viewed for the next generations to come. Congress is one of the main people who are able to change the way society and the government deal with child neglect and also the people who perform the acts against the children. If congress is able to change the number of years a person is able to get once they commit child neglect I believe that there will not be such an increase in child neglect once the offenders realize that they are harsh punishments for those who commit the act. Congress has to continue to fund federal programs that help prevent child neglect across the country in order for things to change. They have to actually take the time to investing stronger when it comes to victims of child neglect. First off in my opinion, they need to change the sentencing for offenders who commit child neglect. “In most states, child abuse may be charged as either a felony or a less serious offense, depending on the circumstances. The most severe cases of child abuse can carry felony life sentences, while the least serious cases are considered gross misdemeanors which could potentially result in no prison time.” (Child Abuse Penalties 2018).

In some cases, they are just given probation and no actually jail time which means they basically walk away from what they did to the child and may be able to do it again to another child. Often times they are considered not guilty if there is not enough evidence to convict them of abusing the child since not all of the injuries are seen from the outside and are often mental or emotional neglect. Also, if the child is unable to speak for themselves that can also be another reason for why the individual may not be charged with the crime that they commit. Which is very wrong in my opinion that the offender is able to walk away from what they did to the child when this can affect the child for the rest of their lives. Also, if they are not able to talk that is not fair for the victim and letting the offender go is like them saying we do not really care about what happened to you. Which is why this should be changed immediately for the sake of the victims who cannot talk and who does not deserve to be treated as if they are not the main priority.